A distraught Ricky Nolasco holding out hope season is not lost

Ricky Nolasco arrived today saying his right knee felt a little better, but his body language and tone of his voice indicate Nolasco believes this setback is more than temporary.

“There’s no level of disappointment that I can explain,” he said. “It’s the toughest thing I had to deal with on the baseball field. I can’t really explain how frustrated or disappointed that this is happening, just the way it happened is just amazing to me.”
The Marlins will make a decision by Wednesday if Nolasco can pitch Saturday in New York. Nolasco (14-8, 4.22 ERA) tore the medial meniscus ligament Thursday while changing shoes. Surgery is required. The only question is whether it comes in September or after the season.

“It’s got to feel really good to be able to pitch with it,” Nolasco said.

Nolasco plans to play catch Tuesday and attempt to throw in the bullpen Wednesday.

“We want to wait until Wednesday when he’s supposed to throw a bullpen. We will make a decision then,” manager Edwin Rodriguez said. “We’re not going to throw him out there without having a bullpen. If he’s not able to have that bullpen on Wednesday then there’s no question that he’s not going to be starting (Saturday).”

The Marlins rotation for the next four games: Josh Johnson, Alex Sanabia and Anibal Sanchez in New York and Chris Volstad Friday in Atlanta.

From there. …

“That depends on everything,” Rodriguez said. “That depends on today. That depends on what’s going to happen (during the) week. We got options with Andrew Miller and whatever we have in the minors. We have a day off tomorrow. We haven’t got to that yet.”

Miller is making his big-league season debut today, taking Nolasco’s spot in the rotation.

Rodriguez praises Nolasco, Uggla

Here’s a statement nobody believed a Marlins manager would make, not with Hanley Ramirez and Josh Johnson healthy.

“I think that Ricky and Danny have been consistently the two,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t’ want to take anything away from Josh Johnson or Hanley, (Nolasco and Uggla) have been the two who have been the most consistent in the second half.”

The comparisons:

Nolasco: 5-2, 3.40 ERA, 53 strikeouts, 8 walks.

Johnson: 2-2, 3,82 ERA, 39 strikeouts, 19 walks.

Uggla: .306, 12 homers, 27 RBI.

Ramirez: .250, 3 homers, 8 RBI.

Stanton gets a break

Emilio Bonifacio gets the start in right field today, in place of the struggling Mike Stanton.

Stanton is 1-for-19 in his last five games with eight strikeouts and one walk. His average has dropped from .275 to .257.

“I think teams are playing more attention to who Mike Stanton is,” Rodriguez said. “Player of the week. … He needs to slow down and make adjustments. Sometimes we forget he’s just 20 years old.”